J.S. Tissainayagam, a senior journalist and Sunday Times columnist, was sentenced to twenty-year rigorous imprisonment by Colombo High Court judge Deepali Wijesundara on Monday. Mr. Tissanayagam has been indicted under the notorious Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and Emergency Regulations (ER), and was charged on three counts including printing and distributing the publication North Eastern Herald Monthly magazine. Tissainayagam, Tamil journalist in jail Tissainayagam, Tamil journalist in jail.

According to the indictment, the veteran journalist had committed an ‘offence’ on two counts under the PTA and has committed ‘acts of violence by inciting communal feelings by editing, printing or distributing the North Eastern Monthly magazine’.

Tissainayagam was also charged under the Emergency Regulations for collecting money for the furtherance of terrorism or specified terrorist activities.

Journalist Tissainayagam was detained on March 7, 2008 when he went to the Sri Lanka’s Terrorist Investigation Division (TID) to look for his colleagues Jasikaran and Valarmathy. He was detained for almost six months without charges.

On August 25th he was charged with writing to incite ‘ethnic disharmony’.

Commonest charge leveled against black freedom fighters by the Apartheid South African regime was “attempting to create racial disharmony”. Current Sri Lankan regime is no better, rather worse. Can a country which has got one of the most corrupt and politicized judiciary system in the world offer anything better than this? Tissa – i pray for you.

Freedom does come with some responsibilities but the burden on the Lankan govt is to make “hate speech” Laws & then prove journalist Tissainayagam incited violence, not to use terrorist laws to subvert Lanka’s constitutional protections. If Judge Deepali Wijesundara belongs to any international associations, I hope they censure her.